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Exosquad is what I came here to say. That show was soo good, great battles, great animation and lots of themes you rarely see in children's cartoons like sacrifice, racism, moral ambiguity, and reconciliation. Lots of WW2 parallels also helps.

Would love love to see a remake. I would even enjoy reading some novels set in this universe, since the main conflict between humans and neosapians was really interesting. As an adult, I can see that some holes in the logic of the show, but that doesn't distract too much from the quality. Namely:

Spoiler

The neosapian conquest and subjugation of Earth is far too easy. How the neosapians could have built up the level of military might to conquer all of Earth in a matter of days is never explained. They show the earth resistance, but they're always an outgunned, ragtag team. I think something more realistic would be the neos using their fleet to crush resistance pockets from orbit, and cow the local populace. Then taking over the existing earth militaries and using them against the human populace.

In addition, if the Neos did indeed conquer all of Earth, Mars and Venus, there's no way the Exofleet could win a long war with just the resources on Io and Chaos, even with Professor Algernon's scientific brilliance.

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I have seen it. It’s cute. It’s campy. I dislike it for the same reason I dislike the Adam West and Joel Shoemake Batman iterations. Not my thing.

I also don’t want to see “Star Blazers, BOOM!” or “Macross, ZAP!” or “G.I. YO!” done in the same kiddie style animation as “Teen Titans, Go!”.

Agree although I don't really mind it being around. I've seen it, don't care to see more of it, but because there is so much animated DC goodness out there I don't mind them trying different things, there's room for the stuff I want to watch and what I don't want to watch but others do.

You forgot about Thundercats, Roar! That's what the new series coming out is actually called. This one irks me because there's not a lot of Thundercats series out there, just the 80's one and the 2011 one. I wish they'd explored the universe in a more serious style a bit more before they got all cutesy.

As an adult, I can see that some holes in the logic of the show, but that doesn't distract too much from the quality﻿.

Well, I haven't seen the show since it was literally still on TV, but yeah, the plot has some holes in it. I think you could solve most of them by simply expanding the time frame of things and adding in that while humans focused on other planets and exploiting neo-sapien labor, in a sort "master-slave dialectic," the humans simply aren't able to capably defend themselves much any more. Not to mention, a sort of "go-to" theme where humans are too fractious to be able to defend against a unified neo-sapien offensive.

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Here is quite a good article on the outrage of the new Thundercats Roar visual style. What is derisively called 'CalArts style' , that kind of loosely drawn visuals you'll see in Stephen Universe, Adventure Time and Gravity Falls (some of my favourite shows actually).

I do get the outrage on this however, as someone growing up with Thundercats, I would like to see a more adult take on the show, which always hinted at a bigger universe and darker themes.

Here is quite a good article on the outrage of the new Thundercats Roar visual style. What is derisively called 'CalArts style' , that kind of loosely drawn visuals you'll see in Stephen Universe, Adventure Time and Gravity Falls (some of my favourite shows actually).

I do get the outrage on this however, as someone growing up with Thundercats, I would like to see a more adult take on the show, which always hinted at a bigger universe and darker themes.

Damn that made me grimace. Truth be told I’m not really a fan of “Thundercats” like I’ve seen a couple episodes from the original series and from 2011(really disappointed how short it ran), reboot but seeing the art for the most recent reboot made me think of the Ben Ten, powderpuff girls, Teen titans, reboots. 2 of which I find to vastly inferior products to the original. But I’ll give it a chance.

Edited January 24 by Varysblackfyre321

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Damn that made me grimace. Truth be told I’m not really a fan of “Thundercats” like I’ve seen a couple episodes from the original series and from 2011(really disappointed how short it ran), reboot but seeing the art for the most recent reboot made me think of the Ben Ten, powderpuff girls, Teen titans, reboots. 2 of which I find to vastly inferior products to the original. But I’ll give it a chance.

So, are you going to give “Star Blazers, BOOM!”, “Macross, ZAP!”, and “G.I.YO!” A chance too when they are “reimagined” in the “Calarts” style?

And, for the record, if you like that style more power to you. But make new cartoons don’t take cartoons people love and draw them like “Power Puff Girls”.

Edited January 24 by Ser Scot A Ellison

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Well, I haven't seen the show since it was literally still on TV, but yeah, the plot has some holes in it. I think you could solve most of them by simply expanding the time frame of things and adding in that while humans focused on other planets and exploiting neo-sapien labor, in a sort "master-slave dialectic," the humans simply aren't able to capably defend themselves much any more. Not to mention, a sort of "go-to" theme where humans are too fractious to be able to defend against a unified neo-sapien offensive.

Yes, there are definitely solutions. One would be that pre-war Neosapians are always portrayed on the show as miners, laborers and scientists. If instead humans had been using neo-sapiens as soldiers in proxy wars, that would really help make their conquest of Earth a lot more realistic.

That show had so much potential, I'm surprised it didn't catch on. I got the season 1 DVDs a few years back (season 2 has never been released on DVD), and it definitely held up. It's still a children's show, obviously, but it reminded me a lot more of my Batman:TAS rewatch, where there were still a lot of things an adult can appreciate in the music, animation, action, themes, rather than a few other children's cartoons I've watched that really didn't hold up (looking at you 90s X-men cartoon).

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Yes, there are definitely solutions. One would be that pre-war Neosapians are always portrayed on the show as miners, laborers and scientists. If instead humans had been using neo-sapiens as soldiers in proxy wars, that would really help make their conquest of Earth a lot more realistic.

Another route (or a supplemental one) would be, the conspiracy runs behind the scenes for a while, and the scientist and laborer Neo-sapiens slip back doors into the military technology, which they then render inert or directly turn them on humans in the uprising. I think, if you take that route, it could be an interesting way to introduce what Exo-squad is. That is, these "exoskeltons" were perhaps built by a business who, shut out from Neo labor for some reason, takes more of a trans-human or augmented human approach to something. Those technologies, being inferior, aren't targeted by Neo-sapiens, becuase they are pretty worthless. Perhaps, for whatever reason as well, this technology had forgone AI and is only augmentative and directly human controlled. Neo-subverted AI is the "master backdoor" that let the uprising proceed so quickly and effectively.

Perhaps these people who were big on Exo tech were sort of luddites. Perhaps they were just the general AI-fearing types. Perhaps some of them were racist, not trusting Neo tech at all. Some mix of all of these makes the actual Exo squad a more interesting cast of characters. Plus, then you throw an actual Neo into the squad for good measure and it's instant drama. Spice with some more "liberal" squad members and you've got a dynamic there.

Once the revolts begins and the coup complete, Exo technology is the only thing that doesn't rely on AI, being "offline" and directly human driven. The human "resistance" takes to converting the Exo tech for warfare purposes. The Neo-sapiens, not really factoring in this sort of resistance, suffers high initial losses, until they start to counter, technologically and strategically.

1 hour ago, Maithanet said:

That show had so much potential, I'm surprised it didn't catch on. I got the season 1 DVDs a few years back (season 2 has never been released on DVD), and it definitely held up. It's still a children's show, obviously, but it reminded me a lot more of my Batman:TAS rewatch, where there were still a lot of things an adult can appreciate in the music, animation, action, themes, rather than a few other children's cartoons I've watched that really didn't hold up (looking at you 90s X-men cartoon).

I think it might be a case were the show was a little "too good" for it's own good. That is, was probably a bit too "serious" for kids, too "kiddy" for adults. The fact that it is relatively "hard" to find online now means it can't really find a good niche for a cult following either. Plus, you know, the plot holes you mention. I think it would be a fantastic canvas on which to paint a story, but who'd be buying?

EDIT: Duh, I just realized that in the initial plot of the show there already is a perfect reason why Exo tech would be used: the initial, "failed" rebellion of the Neos. Some colony or other would likely have reacted by rejecting any and all derivatives. I still think it's more interesting over-all if that tech isn't specifically military at first though.